Paper Mario: Shy Guy Scramble
by DankRawkHawk1987
Summary: The Paper Mario World is filled with wonders and horrors. What happens when Shy Guys take the candy industry by storm? Rated T for suspenseful and scary themes, mild blood, and, of course, draining of life.
1. Candy and Paint

Paper Mario: Shy Guy Scramble

Chapter One: Candy and Paint

In the Paper Mario world, there are two kingdoms: The Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom. Each of these kingdoms gets a sweet treat from a startup company that quickly became a fad: Shy Guy Sweets and Eats. This company is managed by previous commander of Bowser's army, Cherry "Sweetheart" Shyster. He is known as Sweetheart because he founded the sweets and eats company, tested the candies, and packaged them.

One day, deliveries were delayed due to a shortage of ingredients. This left the kingdoms with many less active citizens.

"Why we aren't getting our candy in the first place is beyond our comprehension," one Toad said during the delay. "It's fine by me, I'll just need a coffee."

"My minions need their daily dose of sweets, but this is okay, I guess," Bowser said during the shortage.

Suddenly, it's at Mario's house, with him and his brother watching the news channel.

"...And this is Tom Toadstool, with Mushroom Kingdom Weather!" a news reporter said as it switched over to weather. "Cloudy with a 70% chance of rain!"

Just then, it started to rain outside.

"Oh, come-a on! First the candy stops, and now it starts to rain?" Mario said, slightly cranky because of the shortage.

"Mario, it's-a okay," his brother, Luigi, said. He still had some candy, and he offered to share with Mario.

"No-a thanks, Luigi, I'll be fine with just some coffee."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I'll-a get it!"

"No, Mario, you-a stay here."

The door opened, revealing a shy guy holding a box of candy.

"Here's your candy, sir! We've got a special flavor for today! It's now coming in blackberry jam flavor!"

"Oh, thank-a you! Here's your pay!"

Luigi gave the shy guy 50 coins to pay for the candy.

"Thank you, sir!"

Luigi walked back in, holding the box of candy.

"Hey, Mario! I've got the-"

"Shh, Luigi! The news has something to say!"

Luigi put the box down and listened.

"This is Samuel Sporeson with BREAKING NEWS! This just in, almost half of the mushroom plains has turned WHITE! It's been drained of color entirely!"

Luigi gripped his mustache in fear.

"Oh no!"

Mario stood up, clenching his fist in anger.

"Oh no! No no no no, no! I am NOT going out to repaint another island!" He muttered through clenched jaws.

"But Mario, you-"

Mario sighed before Luigi could finish.

"Fine. I'll go out and repaint the kingdom. But I'm not happy about it," he said at last.

"In other news, the Princess' color has mysteriously been stolen!"

Mario and Luigi gasped in horror.

"OKAY, THAT IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE! I'M-A COMING, PRINCESS!"

Mario burst out of the door, running toward Toad Town.

Luigi watched this in astonishment.

"...wow, he's a hero even when-a he doesn't want to be one."

He then tried the candy.

"Hmm... it's pretty-"

But before he could finish, he felt mysteriously okay.

He started to drool, with whirling in his eyes.

"I belong in the Shy Army," he said almost like a zombie.

Meanwhile, at Bowser's castle, a similar problem was going on.

"I MUST GET TO THE PRINCESS BEFORE MARIO GETS TO HER!" Bowser exclaimed.

"But sir, no paint with the princess means kidnapping her does nothing," General Guy said.

"We are NOT kidnapping her! We're just going there to see what happened!"

"Oh... Okay then."

Back at Peach's Castle...

"OH, MARIO! IT'S TERRIBLE! THE PRINCESS HAS BEEN DRAINED OF HER COLOR!" a random guard toad told Mario as he entered the castle.

"I know this," he said, exasperated. "The princess has not been captured, but her paint has."

Suddenly, Bowser uses a sliding haymaker to burst through the wall.

"IT'S BOWSER!"

"EVERYONE, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"AAAAAH!"

Mario whirled around and saw Bowser, who just headed straight toward Peach.

"Oh-a no you don't!"

"What the-"

Bowser got whacked in the face by Mario's fist.

"OW!"

"You are NOT kidnapping Peach!"

"Well, I wasn't GOING to!" Bowser exclaimed as he held his nose. He moved his hand and saw he was bleeding from a nostril.

"Well why ARE you here?"

"To investigate!"

"Oh..."

A couple of hours later, after Mario calmed the Toads down, a security guard let the fire-breathing turtle that is Bowser into the security room.

"Back here. Oh, and for everyone's sake, take a tissue, Bowser."

"Thanks..." he said as he blew his nose.

"Yeah, no problem. Anyways, as we all know, the Princess has had her color stolen. According to this footage, the last person to come in was a shy guy, and during this, the video footage got corrupted, but the audio didn't get corrupted, so..."

The toad played the video, and it was horrifying.

"Hello, Princess Peach."

"Hello. What are you doing here?"

"I heard you had supplies here that we could use to make candy."

"Us? Have supplies? Why would we?"

"Oh, you know, just saying."

The audio turned black in its entirety, while the audio continued to play.

A rumbling sound indicated that the door got blocked off by a wooden stick.

"What are you doing?"

"CIRCLE UP, SHY GUYS!"

They heard screaming and slurping sounds, and when the door got unblocked, the video got uncorrupted.

At this point, the shy guys were gone, and all toads in the room and Peach were drained of their paint.

Mario shivered from the creep factor, and Bowser just had tears in his eyes.

"W-w-well! We can't just wait here while some bozos are out there screwing with our world!" Bowser said as he stood up and prepared to leave.

"Bowser, relax. I'm-a sure I will put a stop to this evilness," Mario explained to Bowser. "But go ahead and try to locate their base. I'll go get Mister Rust head- I mean Huey!"

"Okay, Mario. But you owe me."

"Alrighty then! Here I go!"

Thus, Mario started another adventure. What could be waiting ahead? Who is the leader of those shy guys? And better yet, how will Bowser find their base?

Meanwhile, after the Peach incident...

Doors were flung open, indicating someone of strength had forced them open.

"Master, we have done it."

"I saw. Stupid Toads don't know what hit them."

"So, hey, are we gonna do the thing and brutally murder Bowser's minions?"

The figure put what appeared to be a 3-fingered hand on his seemingly formless chin. His hand seemed to morph as if being blown at by a child.

"Good question. I suppose so."

"Alright, we'll begin black paint bombing right away."

"Excellent..." the figure let out an evil laughter that sent chills down the servant's spine.


	2. A Rugged Road

Chapter Two: A Rugged Road

Mario set out to Prism Island to reawaken Huey, and along the way, he thought about what he would say.

When he reached Port Prisma, he found the big paint stars were still in position, and Huey in his Thing form was still there.

Knowing that Huey would probably get mad if he was hit over the head with a hammer, Mario simply tapped on the top, waking him up slowly.

"Ah... that was a nice nap," he said upon awakening. "Oh, hey Mario! What could you be doing here?"

"Well, I'm-a here for multiple reasons. The first of which is that the Mushroom Kingdom's paint has been drained!"

"WHAT?!"

"And that's not all! Apparently the Shy Guys are behind this!"

"How do you know it's not Bowser's idea?"

"I told him to look for their base!"

"What about Luigi?"

"He's-a back home, probably watching the news."

"Oh. Well, I guess we have to-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"What the?!"

"Help me! Someone help me! Aaaaah..."

Mario and Huey rushed off to the east to find a pair of slurp guys slurping up a Toad's paint.

"Ahhh... that's the good stuff!" one said. "It sure is a shame that this paint is put to bad use by creating Toads!"

"Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Oh, it's Mario! We ought to take his paint to-" he was cut off by Mario stomping on him, squishing him under his weight.

"We've got to find a way to get the mega paint stars," Huey said.

"Mega paint stars?" Mario was confused.

"Yeah, mega paint stars. They are the source of paint in and of itself."

"Oh."

Mario walked out and headed back to the Mushroom Kingdom, going to the most red area possible, the Rugged Road. There resided old ruins that seemed to be a source of red paint, but it was rumored that there was a guardian who made sure the paint wouldn't get into the wrong hands. Explorers who survived the encounter described a giant, lava-red dragon that appeared out of the lava and attacked after eating a giant, red star-shaped object, most likely a decoration.

"Mario, we better go check out those ruins, as they could very well hold the paint star," Huey said.

Mario nodded.

They got access to the volcano, which was normally reserved for those that needed to get access.

Traversing the warm earth and avoiding random volcanic rocks, they scaled until they found a Shy Guy Cache, and it had a black one with red hair, with a jar of an unidentifiable liquid in his stubs.

"There's Mario! Quick, attack!" he screamed.

Mario whacked them away, and seeing his army was defeated, he went on to attack by himself.

He began by stealing Paint Points and cards from both heroes, and then shot it back at them.

"This is insane! Using one's own blood, sweat and tears against them!" Huey shouted.

Mario used his jump and hammer to defeat this shy guy.

"Ow ow ow! Uncle!" he cried. "I give up!"

Mario decided to spare him.

"..."

"Mario, what are you doing? Lay the final blow!"

"..."

The shy guy was bewildered, wondering why Mario was sparing him.

"...fine. I'll join your side," he said at last. "I'm Trash."

Mario, with his new partner, continued until he found the Ruby Burner, which was where garbage was burned and melted down into a more useful form.

They ventured through, battling the guards that were strewn around the area, and were guarding the entrance to what appeared to be a trash compactor.

"That... does not look like fun," Huey said silently.

Once they ran through right after a smash, they found the main chamber, within which there was a flaming trash can.

A shy guy flew in on a hovercraft, clearly surprised they made it through.

"Ah, looks like you're stuck until you figure out a way past this place!" he said. "Now go! Super ultra mega monster Junker bot of destruction!"

The pile of garbage in the flames started to form a giant bipedal monster with four arms, no head, and eyes that peered out from under a lid.

After a series of beeping noises, it began to speak.

"I AM THE JUNKER. I WILL DESTROYING YOU," it said. "HA HA HA HA HA!"

Mario dodged the fists that came slamming down, and rammed them with the platform that could move around the circular incineration chamber.

After destroying all four fists, it began to attempt to blast him with a laser. But Mario tossed shards of metal to crack the crystal ball responsible for the laser, and after losing this laser it lowered down and began shooting missiles from its eyes.

Destroying these eyes, he caused Junker to rear back in pain and slowly fall down into the bottomless pit below the incineration chamber.

"CURSE YOU, MARIO!" It screamed as it sank below. "YOU'LL RUE THE DAY YOU MESSED WITH THE JUNKER..."

As it fell, it shot out a red big paint star, which would take them to the Crimson Castle, the supposed location of this mega paint star.

"We've got to hurry," Huey said. "Who knows when they'll strike next?"

Mario and Trash headed forward out of the dump and used the big paint star to lead them to the mega paint star.

They followed it up the summit of the volcano, and upon nearing the peak, they began to see what appeared to be a castle on the horizon. The red tint of its masonry looked gorgeous when mixed with the orange and purple and gray sky, making it seem grander than it was in reality. Crimson Castle was upon them. They used the big paint star as a key to open the gate, which was made of a red glass like material, and they rushed through the entrance.


	3. The Crimson Castle

Shy Guy Scramble

Chapter 3: The Crimson Castle

Mario, Huey and Trash ventured into the deep recesses of the Crimson Castle, searching for the one thing that could help them.

They jumped from platform to platform, narrowly avoiding falling in the lava.

"Whew... it sure is... warm in here, isn't it?" Huey said as he wiped sweat, which somehow came from his sticker face, away using his handle.

Trash, seeing the paint can in clear discomfort, folded himself into a fan and jumped in Mario's hand. He waved air at Huey, attempting to cool him down.

"Thanks..."

They looked around, but to no avail, as all they saw was a whole lot of nothing but a large amount of hallways, doors and large rooms.

Mario questioned the map's validity, for where there was supposed to be no room, there was a giant hub room, most likely the ballroom, but it had long since withered away into a room with a lava river flowing through it, and a few plants grew alongside it.

Huey looked closely at the lava and saw what appeared to be a pair of bright red eyes staring right back at him.

"What the..."

As he spoke, the eyes disappeared, and Huey decided he was hallucinating.

They found the door at the north end of the ballroom was locked, so Mario went off to find a key that could unlock it.

While the trio were searching the east side, the entrance to the castle locked, keeping them in until they got the mega paint star.

Once they found a key, they decided to do a once-over on the west side, which proved very effective, as there was another key hidden in a chest near the ballroom.

They unlocked the door to the main hub, and once inside, found it was filled with lava, but there were platforms that floated over the lava and somehow did not melt.

They platformed their way across, fighting occasional battles, and they found the throne room. There, it was like Bowser's throne room but more red, and it had a picture of a Toad behind the main throne.

On the throne itself, there was a skeleton, which they attempted to avoid when a voice spoke.

"I... am... Kupos du Lavano... ruler of the kingdom of Lavano..." it said.

"Kingdom? This is a volcano! Now come on out, Kupos du whatever-your-name-is!" Trash shouted.

"Heh... you've got sass... I like it... but you shouldn't sass a king!"

The skeleton on the throne shook, forming a giant, humanoid monster, appearing to be a humanoid dry bone.

"You shall suffer the pain of being sealed for a thousand years!" It yelled.

Mario got into a battle stance, while Huey started charging up a paint blast, and Trash readied throwing stars to toss at the monster.

At first, Kupos did everything it could to kill them, from throwing pots and other pottery at them to tearing chunks of the ground out and attempting to smash them with it.

When Mario dodged this and jumped on his head, it cracked the skull. At this point, the undead king switched to a defensive tactic, guarding until Mario was off guard.

Mario, being the hero, signaled Huey to paint blast Kupos, which temporarily blinded the monster. Mario then threw his hammer at the giant's head, cracking it even further, when Kupos switched to a mix; he tore a ground piece up, fashioned it into a shield, then grabbed a pillar and used it as a hammer.

"Shazam!" he said.

The pillar was stuck, so Trash threw his throwing stars to topple it.

Upon toppling, Kupos was vulnerable, and Mario beat the skull in for the third and final time.

With a roar, Kupos was defeated.

"You haven't beaten me... yet..." Kupos slowly faded out of existence, losing everything that was on him.

Suddenly, the painting behind the throne fell down, revealing a doorway that was locked with a big lock.

It didn't look like their current small key would open the door, so they searched for a big key.

Luckily, they found a locked cage and used their small key to get to a fancy chest, containing the big key.

Also inside was a basin, which Mario had to wring out.

They unlocked the big door, and saw a giant star-shaped object hanging from the ceiling, within it a giant pair of black eyes.

"Mario! There's the mega paint star! We gotta- WHOA!"

The ground rumbled, and the lava began forming ripples, which, out of the center of them, came a monstrosity.

As surprising as it could be, it was a draggadon.

"D-D-D-DRAGGADON!" Huey screamed at the top of his lungs.

The dragon laughed a deep laugh, then, surprisingly, spoke.

"ME RUBY. YOU TRESPASSERS. TRESPASSERS LEAVING OR BEING EATEN BY RUBY," it said.

It then leaped up, eating the giant red star.

"Remember when I said I speak draggadon?"

Mario nodded.

"Well, I don't think this will come in handy here. I think we'll have to fight for the paint star!"

"IF YOU INSISTING!"

Ruby began the fight by punching Mario, then resting in the lava.

Mario pulled out his iron jump badge, equipped it, and began stomping the dragon.

Each time he landed a successful hit, she screamed in pain.

Huey shot blue at her, and Trash just throwing star sniped her.

She wasn't feeling up to attacking because of the blue paint, but she was still powerful.

She shook the blue paint off and used a barrage of fireballs to attack, which Mario dodged.

Mario then used his basin attack, slamming her head.

She sank into the lava, but then burst back out, practically fuming with rage.

"I'M GET TIREDNESS OF THIS! I'M END FIGHTING NOW!" she screamed.

Then, in a sick twist of events, as he was falling back down, she inhaled Mario.

"Mmmm... spicy mustard..."

Trash, in a fury, somehow got the strength to form a straw out of thin air, and slurped so much paint from the ground that he almost burst.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I'm saving Mario!"

He spat all the paint at the scarlet draggadon, who vomited Mario out, along with the mega paint star.

"UNCLE! I'M GIVE UP!" she yelled. "YOU CAN HAVING PAINT STAR! JUST RESTORE MY HOME!"

"We will. Don't worry," Huey said to comfort the now crying dragon.

They then flew over the kingdom, repainting every red thing in the kingdom.

They saved Ruby's castle, and they also got the rest of the kingdom, but they couldn't get Peach.

Lastly, they repainted a red biplane's rotor, which was facing Marmalade Valley.

They flew back to Ruby, who was instructed by Huey to guard the sacred item.

At the shy guys' headquarters...

"Sir, I can-"

"PUT A LID ON IT, BLUEBERRY!"

"Sir, do you really want to rule the world?"

"Well, no duh!"

"Well, I've got a new friend I'd like you to meet. Mister L!"

"Yes-a sir?"

"Meet your boss."

"Okey-dokey."

"So, you're the famous Mister L. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

"Now look. We've got reports that a crash occurred in Marmalade Valley, and I'm assigning you a squad to address the signal."

"Yes-a sir!"


	4. Valley in Orange

Chapter 4: Valley in Orange

Mario, Huey and Trash made their way across the warm fuzzy plains and found a de-colored toad, who was leaning against a yellow biplane. Mario, being a hero, repainted him, restoring his life force.

"Wow! That was crazy!" he said. "Oh, it's Mario! Uh, hey Mario! I heard you were going on a quest to find the sources of paint and then save the kingdom. Oh, who're your friends?"

Mario introduced Huey and Trash to the toad, who offered them a plane flight to a valley located on a far-off island, Marmalade Valley. They accepted the offer, and with his newly repainted biplane propeller, they took off to Marmalade Valley.

While flying over the Mushroom Sea, they passed Keelhaul Key and Lavalava Island, each flourishing at the time.

They admired the sunset as they flew; shining over the ocean, it was the most beautiful sight they had ever seen.

At exactly midnight, they reached the Seedy Stop, which was where they were to check in at Marmalade City, the capital of the island.

Immediately after they exited the plane, they were greeted by many orange toads, and, after being surprised that the island was actually a province of the Mushroom Kingdom, the governor explained what happened.

"Ahem... reading glasses, please?" The governor of the island, who was farsighted, tapped his cane relentlessly, waiting for the glasses.

"Ah, here we are," he said after around two minutes of waiting. "It states in the records book, 'Like lightning, they attacked; like fire, they were draining our lives; and like a stream whose source spring had been stopped, they fled to the valley of the east.' That is what it says."

"Well, then we go to the valley! That's my vote," Huey exclaimed eagerly.

"I agree with Tin Can over here," Trash said, to which Huey replied, "Hey!"

Mario agreed, but the governor insisted they go to Seedy Stop to rest for the night. After that, they went through the east side of town to access the valley.

Once they reached it, they immediately realized they were standing on clay. This was a little like standing in quicksand, but they were sinking slower than if they were in actual quicksand.

They made their way down the valley, surrounded by waterfalls, coming from the ocean around them. Occasionally, a shy guy would scurry across the floor, stopping only to slurp paint, then scurry back.

At some point, Huey saw a shining light coming from a cave on the left, and he alerted Mario to the presence of said object.

When they went to investigate, they found a strange thing: an object that looked like the sticker comet, but was covered by rocks.

Careful not to touch it, Mario removed the rocks and found an old friend stuck under it.

"Kersti?!" Mario exclaimed.

She was silent.

They looked around, realizing they were in a scuttlebug's nest.

They attempted to leave, but the entrance/exit was blocked off.

"Well, that's the end of the-" Trash began.

"SHH!" Huey interrupted.

They remained quiet, and they heard whispering voices coming from the walls.

"Hear that...?" one voice said.

"...practically a dinner bell..." another said.

"The king predicted that our dinner comessssssss to us..." a third said.

"...come, our king..." a fourth said.

The trio of people were freaking out, but Huey remained calm for now.

"Mario, Trash, go get the survivor of that crash," Huey said.

Without any objections, they went to the main chamber, but when a giant spider opened its bioluminescent red eyes, Huey fled to the central chamber to hide.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The spider had its prey right where it wanted them.

Suddenly, a voice called out from the darkness.

"I am Scuttlusssssss Maximusssssss, the ruler of the scuttlebugssssssss," the sinister voice silently said as a baby scuttlebug climbed down from the ceiling. "We were going to go hunting, but it ssssssseems our food has come to usssssssss!"

Then, a giant scuttlebug descended from the ceiling, hanging from a thick strand of silk. It had a black body with bright orange stripes, with bioluminescent green dots on its back. Its fangs reflected the light off of its body, and its eyes were a glowing red.

It hung itself over the sticker comet before it engaged them in battle.

Scuttlus Maximus tried to scratch them, but they dodged the attacks. Mario decided to jump, which dealt a lot of damage due to the fact that they were basically fighting a giant spider.

Huey was scared, but used his power paint blast, which launched a barrage of purple paint, poisoning the monster. Trash hung out in the back, using a few throwing stars he made of the ground to impale the monster's eyes.

It then bit Trash, poisoning him, but took damage from the poison as well.

Mario stomped twice, Huey did paint blast again, and Trash used a straw to replenish everyone's health and Paint points.

"Thissssssss is getting ridiculoussssssssss!" Scuttlus shouted. It then bit the ground, sending them far below the ground.

Apparently, Scuttlus himself was knocked down and was squished by a falling rock. Also at this point, Kersti awoke, moving the rocks out of her view.

"Mario?" she said quietly.

Since everyone else was knocked out, she could do nothing but heal them, which she did, awakening them.

"Oh... that was painful..." Huey said as he slowly came back to his senses. "Huh? Who are you?"

"I'm Kersti. And you are?"

"Huey."

She didn't know it, but she started to like Huey for being very polite.

"Mario! Wake up!" Trash said as he shook Mario a lot.

After much waiting, the red-clad hero got up, explaining to Kersti what happened.

"Oh... well, we can't just sit here and let ourselves get killed, can we?"

"We cannot! We must go!"

Everyone decided to go explore the apparent ruins below the surface, with an entrance located right next to them.


	5. The Ruins

Chapter 5: The Ruins

(A/N: Yes, I know the chapter is abnormally short, but that's mainly because I didn't have much inspiration for it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this short chapter!)

Guided by Kersti's shininess, the heroes made their way through the tunnels of an ancient kingdom, whose monuments were buried under thousands of tons of sand. Going through multiple hallways, they encountered similar monsters to that of the Dry Dry Ruins.

Upon reaching a chest, they looked inside and found a box of gold, but didn't take it.

"Aw, come on!" Trash complained. "Just a single doubloon!"

"No!" Kersti said harshly. "It's this kingdom's property, regardless of whether they're gone or not!"

"Okay, fine, missus sticky-fingers..."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

"NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL."

Despite her delicate appearance, Kersti was a force to be reckoned with, and could easily take on many a monster alone. However, she mainly played a supporting role, healing the heroes when they needed it.

Upon reaching the darkest corner of the temple, they found multiple sarcophagi, which each had an inscription on it.

Huey read each inscription out loud.

"Kupos du Lavano I, 100 B.G.E-750 A.G.R, Kupos du Lavano II, 750 A.G.R-1500 A.G.R, Kupos du Lavano III, 1500 A.G.R-Present," he read slowly. "So that Kupos guy we fought back at Rugged Road was the reigning king 500 years ago..."

Suddenly, a sarcophagus opened, and a sinister voice filled the room.

"Heh heh heh... you thought you could escape?" the voice said.

"What do you mean, 'escape'?" Trash replied.

"You went into these ruins for some reason, right?"

"We thought there'd be some paint star here."

"Well, you're-a wrong!"

The man who was speaking jumped out of the sarcophagus. He wore black overalls, had a green shirt, wore a cap with a backwards L on it, and wore a shy guy mask.

"You're that..."

"Yes, you're-a looking at The Green Fire! MISTER L!"

He then jumped into the air, landing on Mario, then jumped backwards. Kersti put her abilities to the test and shot a sticky substance out from shiny dust that she could control. It stuck him to the floor, and he was stuck for two turns.

"Oh, in all the-"

Huey splashed him with orange paint, and Trash slurped up the green paint.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

He then smacked them with his fists, and then charged up a high jump.

Mario jumped on him twice, then hammered him.

This cracked his mask, and he screamed.

"This isn't over!"

He then released his high jump and flew into the ceiling, breaking it open and showing them that they were right below a hill the entire time.

"Oh, a way out! Let's go!" Kersti said.

While the others hesitated, Huey stuck with Kersti (A/N: GET IT? BECAUSE SHE'S A STICKER? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA okay, I'll shut up.) and agreed that they needed to go.

After that, they realized they were at the end of Marmalade Valley.

"The sunset is so beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, Kersti."

"Well, no time to dawdle! I hear something!"

"...colosseum..."


	6. The Marmalade Colosseum

Chapter 6: The Marmalade Colosseum

"COME ONE, COME ALL, TO THE MARVELOUSLY MAGNIFICENT MARMALADE COLOSSEUM!"

Upon climbing out of the ruins, Mario looked at what appeared to be a giant, orange amphitheater, with a long line coming from each entrance.

It was carved into the wall, and waterfalls of ocean water could be seen from far away.

"Well, we ought to go check it out," Kersti said as she pointed with her floating sparkly dust.

Huey and Trash agreed, and once they reached the structure, they were sure there would be a lot of action.

"The current champion is going to give a MARVELOUS prize to anyone who beats him!" an announcer said.

"...any redeeming qualities?" a ticket master asked a shy guy who planned on being a competitor.

"Well, I can slurp!" he said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but our bos-champion is looking for a certain kind of person who is strong. So I'm sorry, but no."

The shy guy went off, cursing under his breath.

"Yes, hello, welcome to the Marmalade Colosseum, how may I help you?" he asked the quartet with a bored voice.

"Yes, we'd like four tickets!" Kersti replied.

"For competing or for the crowd?"

She turned around and asked what the others thought.

After a short debate, they agreed on tickets to watch.

"Alright, that'll be fifty coins."

Kersti gave him the money, and in reply the ticket master said, "Here's your tickets. Next!"

They walked in and took their seats, and much to their surprise, it looked almost identical to the Golden Colosseum on Prism Island, albeit with a more orangey tint and beautiful cyan waterfalls glistening in the sunset.

A shy guy announcer hopped up onto a comfortable chair fashioned out of an ancient throne and asked for a microphone.

"People!" he yelled into the microphone, causing a lot of feedback to circulate through the speakers.

"AAAAAH! MY EARS!" Trash complained as he stuck his stubs into what appeared to be his ears. The crowd and the rest of the quartet reacted in a similar manner.

"Sorry about that," the announcer continued. "Anyways, PEOPLE! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME REAL PAINT-SHED?"

The crowd responded with an enthusiastic "YEAH!"

"ARE YOU READY FOR A BATTLE OF WITS?"

Again, an enthusiastic "YEAH!"

"AND LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, ARE YOU READY FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLES?"

This time, the crowd roared with excitement as the gate below the announcer opened, revealing a pair of blood red eyes, and a snarling noise.

"Oh, this is gonna be good!" Kersti said in anticipation.

Out came a lion, with an orange shy guy strapped to its back.

The shy guy got off the lion, then gave it a treat. He then sent the lion back into the gate. There was something odd about this one, though; instead of a white mask with black eyes and a black mouth, the color scheme was reversed; he had a black mask and white eyes and a white mouth, which was never seen before.

The crowd cheered as he walked about, receiving roses thrown at him and hearing laughter when he slipped on some stray paint.

"Mario, are they joking?" Trash said. "That's my old boss-"

Trash was interrupted by the orange shy guy, who had a mic of his own.

"Now, hello, ladies and gentlemen. It is I, Marmalade, champion of the Citrus Championship. Now, who shall I select as my challenger..."

Suddenly, Bowser flew in, arms flailing.

"ME! ME!" he screamed.

"BOWSER?!" Mario exclaimed.

"Oh. Well, if you insist, old boss," Marmalade replied.

Upon saying this, he summoned a spiky club from the stone and whacked Bowser out of the very amphitheater with it.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Mario stood there, jaws hanging open, surprised that this little shy guy could do such an amazing feat.

The crowd, however, cheered and threw coins.

Mario went to the front desk, demanding to the front desk person that he and his partners be let in as challengers.

"Well, if you're THAT suicidal, go ahead."

They went ahead, searching for something that could be used to stop Marmalade's attacks, and once they searched the ancient burial grounds below, they found a baseball bat and a shield.

"The bat might come in handy in case we fight another giant pokey," Kersti reasoned.

Huey didn't know how to respond to that, so he just went with her.

"Now, that shield ought to protect us from his club attack," Trash said.

They made their way back up, got onto the rising platform, and entered.

"Oh, what's this? More puny competitors?" Marmalade sneered.

"We're not puny, and you are-"

Upon hearing the first word Mario said, due to his heavy Italian accent, he recognized him.

"Oh, sorry to stop you there, but aren't you the world-famous Mario?"

The crowd mumbled, saying they did see someone who looked like him in the crowd.

"Yes! But-a you don't have the strength to stop us!" he responded.

"We shall see, little man..."

Upon engaging in battle, Marmalade let them go first, Mario using his Shield thing card, then two jumps, and finally a hammer. Huey did a green paint blast, Trash did orange paint leech, and Kersti used stick.

These negative effects, of course, didn't affect him for long, as he was a boss, and he pulled out his club, like before, but it shattered upon hitting the shield.

"WHAT?! WHAT IS THIS CRAZINESS?!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Mario then whaled in on him, using his basin thing, two hammers, and a cork thing.

Upon almost dying, Marmalade was giving up.

"Okay, okay! You win!"

Mario got a confused look on his face, but didn't question anything.

Suddenly, Marmalade's right arm morphed into a spiny arm, with spiny fingers, in a split second and sent him flying into the wall above the exit, which prompted the other three heroes to go help him, and prompted the crowd to cheer. His arm reverted back to a stub afterwards.

"Fools! You shouldn't have let your guard down! Now I'll reveal the real me!"

He started to morph, during which he became taller than the entire colosseum, his stubs morphing into true arms and hands, his head becoming a gigantic bulb, but his black mask remained the same size, but melted into his skin, going into his brain as he transformed. His body split into separate segments, gaining sharp spines on them, his hands connected to his arms via these very spines. He gained a giant pink flower on his head, still in the bud form. His arms moved around, finally coming up to his neck, getting covered by the sandstone floor as he sank down. He opened his pure white eyes, and revealed a purely black mouth, with a red, pupil-like object located at the back of his throat. He roared, the audience staring in shock. Surely they hadn't just seen a small shy guy become hundreds of times larger. Mario and the others watched in horror as Marmalade, despite his carefree attitude, became a horrific monster: a giant pokey.

"HA HA HA! I AM INVINCIBLE!" he screamed in a slightly muffled voice. "I AM MARMALADE, THE SPINY SCOURGE OF THE VALLEY! AND YOU ARE JUST ANNOYING PARASITES ATTEMPTING TO FEED OFF OF MY SKIN!"

"Mario, now would be a good time to use your bat..." Kersti said impatiently.

"Let's wait until he's at maximum size," Mario replied.

Marmalade immediately resumed the battle, slapping Mario with his hands multiple times. Then, he grew a segment, and after standing up to five attacks, he was at his tallest.

"I AM LIKE A SKYSCRAPER, WHILE YOU ARE LIKE ANTS! NOW BE THE INSECTS THAT YOU ARE AND GET SMASHED!" he screamed from two American Football fields above the colosseum.

He then toppled over onto Mario, who used a spike helmet, which held him up.

"Kersti! Now! Use the bat!"

Kersti used the baseball bat and launched Marmalade's segments out into the ocean.

"NO! HOW CAN THIS BE?! AFTER ALL I'VE DONE! THIS CAN'T BE THE END OF ME!"

Huey splashed yellow paint onto Marmalade, who was enraged but calmed down, and he looked surprised to see this happening.

Mario then used a hammer on the short pokey and defeated him.

"blargh..." Marmalade melted into the ground, leaving nothing but his black mask behind.

Suddenly, the black substance covering the mask flew off, heading into the sky, leaving behind a perfectly orange mask.

"Mario... his only remains..."

Suddenly, the announcer broke in.

"AND THE WINNER IS MARIO!"

The crowd cheered, ladies fainted, and he was given a million coins, as well as the mega paint star.

"We don't need this, so you can have it."

Huey looked around, wondering where Trash went.

Turns out, he was fiddling with a trash can, attempting to find a way to get a McToad's Double Magma Burger for free.

"Stop fiddling with the trash, you piece of garbage!"

"Says the soup can over here!"

After that, they got into that comical cartoon fighting cloud that nobody could escape from, so of course Mario had to break up the fight.

Mario then showed Trash the mask of Marmalade, to which he said, "We need the masks of the other three elite shy guys to find their base. In the meantime, why don't we go find that flaming turtle friend of yours?"

After that, everyone laughed the entire fight off as a mistake that shouldn't have happened.

They brought the orange Mega Paint Star to the city, and they flew it to Wiggler's Woods, where the gate blocking the entrance was empty of color. They repainted the gate and the mechanisms that opened it, and they could access the next area.

At the base of the Shy Guys...

A screen indicated in the Western Sea, a black mask exploded on the screen but really was just deactivated.

"Sir-"

"CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY SULKING THAT MARMALADE WAS DEFEATED?!"

"But sir-"

"I don't care, Citrus. Now go back to the Golden Desert."

"Sir, you should know that only me and Concord are the only Elite Shy Guys left."

The figure held up a gelatinous finger.

"That doesn't matter. What really matters is that we must make absolutely certain that those stupid heroes do not get here!"

"Sir..."

"I know you're loyal, Citrus. But what about Cotton Candy? Certainly your little sister is a better Elite than YOU."

"Sir, I'll try my hardest."

"'Trying your hardest' isn't good enough. 'Fighting to the end' is good enough."

"YES SIR I WILL!"


	7. Being Blind

Chapter 7: Being Blind

The quartet headed back through the warm fuzzy plains and headed straight for the forest, but found that it was surrounded on all sides by a blanket of black paint.

"WHAT?!" Huey exclaimed.

Everyone freaked out, not knowing what to do, so they went back to Toad Town to consult "The Know-It-All," who was a hobo who knew practically everything. He looked like Mario, but wore a yellow jacket and orange shorts, had purple hair, and had no mustache. He had a Transylvanian accent, as if he were a vampire, but did not burn in the light.

"Ah, velcome to the Know-It-All's residence," he said as they walked into a long-abandoned cargo ship. "Now, vat can I... explain for you?"

"We'd like some information on how to get past all that black paint surrounding the forest," Kersti said.

The Know-It-All nodded, then walked into a cargo box to think.

It was raining, so they were uncomfortable due to the water pouring on them, but they just ignored it.

Finally, he came out of his cargo box.

"I haff come to a conclusion," he said in a dramatic voice. "And I shall explain it... in SONG!"

"Oh great..." Trash sighed.

"I call my song "Being Blind."

Thus, he began to sing.

(A/N: No, this isn't going to be a musical. I'm just including this because I feel like it. Anyways, the names of the characters that are singing are going to appear before the lines.)

KIA: "Of the frosty region you shall find, the secret item you seek! Exploration will make you blind! Don't go when you're so very weak!"

After this verse, Kersti joined in.

Kersti: "Everything's coming together, I can see; The light, water and land, coming to me!"

At this point, they were singing in unison.

KIA + Kersti: "The frosty, cold world of the west! seek there, you shall not rest! Explore! see what you find! The world won't fall without being blind!"

Huey then started to sing, unleashing a smooth tenor voice.

Huey: "But should you go slow, OH! I don't want to know!"

Kersti joined him.

Kersti: "Everything will fall apart!"

The three started singing again.

All: "The frosty, cold world of the west! seek there, you shall not rest! Explore! see what you find! The world won't fall without being blind!"

Now only the Know-It-All was talking.

"You know, heh... I didn't think you would be good at doing this. But then you saved the world five times. Now, I'm certain the ancients chose the right man!"

They began singing.

Kersti: "Huey, come to us, we need to paint!"

Huey: "No time to wait!"

Trash decided to join in, but only for this. He unleashed a smooth alto-pitched voice.

Trash: "We shall never give up! We just simply cannot..."

Huey: "We will not be beaten! Not like a goomba, or a koopa, or a knot!"

Trash stepped down.

Mario: "All around-a me are lights! Flashing on and off!" *he grabs his hair.* "None are pausing! Make it stop!" *he bangs his fists on the ground.*

Huey: "But the hour has fin'ly come!"

Kersti: "*building "aah" as Huey is holding "come"*"

KIA: "*building "aah" as well*"

After holding "come" for over two minutes, Mario finally silenced them.

Mario: "All around me is a voice I'm hearing, always burning, can't stop screaming, help me... out of the darkness, something's here... what can I say, you're not weird!"

Huey: "How many times do you have to kill innocent people? Why is this the only way we go?"

Kersti: "We've just got to make all the death come to an end..."

KIA: "But we can only end it with killing the bend..."

Mario (insane voice): "I CAN'T SEEM TO MAKE IT STOP!"

All singing while Mario is holding "stop": "The frosty, cold world of the west! seek there, you shall not rest! Explore! see what you find! The world won't fall without being blind!"

Huey and Kersti: "The frosty, cold world of the west! seek there, you shall not rest! Explore! see what you find! The world won't fall without being blind..."

Huey looked at Kersti, and she looked right back at him. They just hovered there, looking each other straight in the eyes.

The song then ended, each in a different position, Mario kneeling on his left knee.

Trash's eyes grew wide, and it was at this point Mario realized Trash had a scar on the left side of his face, right on his eye. Nevertheless, Trash applauded, clearly surprised and kept well entertained.

"Hey! Huey!"

Upon coming back to his senses, Huey realized he was staring right at Kersti.

He made unintelligible noises, and then began to speak again.

"Sorry, got my mind mixed up," he said.

"The KIA is saying something!" Mario said.

"So, this means the object you're looking for is in Frosty Fields, in the vest of the kingdom," the KIA said.

"That's good to know," Huey said.

"Oh yeah, I'm letting you go without needing to pay," the KIA said.

The quartet then left, going off to the west of the kingdom, to Frosty Fields.

As they went off, they were being followed. None of them knew it, though.

"All clear, Blueberry?" KIA was following them, looking to see where they went.

"Yes, Inky," a blue shy guy said.

"Alright."

The Kia then started morphing into a figure of ink, connected to the floor by a narrow strip of ink that flowed from his body to the ground. He had a body color of black, with bright red eyes. His arms were nothing more than simple stubs, with an exposed core of a dark yellow. His fingernails were composed of sky blue plasma, and they were as sharp as butcher knives. His mouth opened in a simple smile, with sharp teeth composed of shards of metal from scissors. He had white irises, with a pinprick orange dot near the center. His voice was deep and dark, indicating he was very old.

"They won't make it to that vacuum past Sniffberg," he said. "Follow them."

"But sir-"

"DON'T 'but' me, Kamek!"

"Don't use my real name!"

"I AM YOUR BOSS, AND I CAN ADDRESS YOU WITH YOUR REAL NAME! NOW FOLLOW THEM!"

"Yes sir..."


	8. Freezing Cold

Chapter 8: Freezing Cold

(A/N: My brother wrote most of this chapter. He's much better than I am.)

Mario shivered as he stepped through the snow. Despite wearing everything that you'd need for being warm, Crystal Peak was not the easiest to keep warm in.

"Brrrr..." he said as he shivered, blowing warm air onto his hands.

It was so cold not even Mario's thick clothes were enough to insulate him from the cold air.

"I can say that Mario is not a man for less than 82°C," Trash said in a mocking voice.

"Listen 'ere, you little ffffff...FLUNKER!" Mario shouted over the roar of the blizzard.

"You two need to stop, now," Huey and Kersti said in unison.

"YoU TwO NeEd tO StOp nOw!" Trash & Mario responded at (almost) the same time.

(B/N: Ignore what he said about me being a good writer. Anyways, I'm handing over the steering wheel to Hawk.)

Suddenly, the blizzard ended, revealing to them a beautiful land filled with snow.

"S-s-so... c-c-c-cold..." Mario said as he shivered.

The sun was at its peak, and was emitting the most heat it ever did, but it was still very, VERY cold.

"Ahh... AHH..." a single snowflake had floated down and had tickled Mario's nose, making him about to sneeze.

"Mario, if you sneeze on me, I will-"

"ACHOO!"

"Yuck, that's not pretty..." Huey moaned.

Trash wiped his face clear, then looked right at Mario with an enraged look in his eyes.

"You better feel lucky I'm your partner, because if I wasn't, I'd gladly slap you into next game right now," he said through clenched teeth.

Mario apologized, and they continued onward.

They went around, occasionally encountering parka sniffits, who were very serious about stopping him.

Ultimately, they reached a scalable wall of the mountain known as Mount Frost, which they would climb up to reach the vacuum.

They scrambled up the wall, ducking into an alcove when Huey alerted them to the presence of an avalanche.

While they climbed up, they found that they were in serious danger of falling down the wall, which would obviously be bad.

Upon reaching the path leading to the peak, they stocked up on mushrooms and pink paint bottles for healing. They got their weapons ready and climbed up the wall.

"Wait!" Trash called.

They stopped to look back.

"What is it?" Huey asked.

"We gotta check in at the peak!"

Huey did the closest thing he could to facepalming, which was hitting his face with his handle. "In the middle of a freaking snowstorm?!"

"Tin can man, you're too serious about life. We just gotta relax at some point."

"TIN CAN MAN?! I SWEAR I'M GONNA BEAT YOU UNTIL YOU-"

"CALM THE HECK DOWN, HUEY! He didn't mean it, he's just joking..."

"...yeah, I am."

Everyone posed, with Kersti putting a glitter arm around Huey, and Huey put a handle around her. Mario did the peace sign, and Trash held two straws in his mouth to look like a walrus.

Upon getting their picture taken, they continued onward.

They reached the summit, and found the Vacuum.

But upon approaching it, the snowstorm surrounded it and formed a giant sniffit.

"Sniffberg..." Trash said resentfully.

"Well, if it isn't my younger brother, Trash! Tell me, how goes the research?" the sniffit asked as he surrounded himself with a block of ice. "Oh wait! I forgot, you betrayed us!"

"You bet your sweet ice, I did. Now give us the vacuum."

"What, this thing?" He held up the vacuum in a stub. "Yeah, how's about no, you flipping raisin?"

Trash suddenly advanced, holding a throwing star to Sniffberg's throat.

"Call me a raisin again and see what happens."

"Raisin."

When Trash slid his throwing star across his neck, it only scratched the ice block surrounding him.

When Mario climbed up, he saw another comical fighting cloud of death, and saw that Trash was fighting Sniffberg in the cloud.

When they engaged in battle, Sniffberg was weak as his snout was clogged by the vacuum, and all he could do was try to bash them into oblivion with his body.

Mario countered and landed five direct hits from his jumps, and he smashed with two hammers, and then used the "Radiator" Thing card.

This melted his outer shell and allowed them to damage his sensitive back.

After one turn, Sniffberg attempted to smack them with his stubs, and then jump on them.

They dodged these attacks and countered, defeating the beast after two turns of hammer and jump.

Sniffberg fell down the mountain, and spat out the vacuum and rolled down into a cave.

They celebrated their victory, and upon pretty much squeezing the life out of the vacuum, they went on to the forest.


	9. Forest of Mystery

Chapter 9: Forest of Mystery

As the heroes made their daring trek down the mountain, they encountered many monsters. But they easily overpowered their adversaries, who attempted to impede their progress.

Upon reaching the woods, Huey and Kersti got into an argument over who would apply the vacuum. Mario broke it up, saying they could both do it.

"Both of us?" Huey said. "That sounds great!"

The vacuum fell down, activated, and began to take in all the black paint surrounding the forest.

After they cheered, Trash walked Kersti into the forest.

When they were out of earshot, Mario started to whisper to Huey.

"You like her, don't you?" he said.

"Who, Kersti?" he asked. "Nah, she's too irritable."

"Uh-huh. 'Irritable.'"

Mario gave him a look indicating he knew Huey liked Kersti.

"Mario, why are you-"

"Tell her."

"WHAT?! NO!"

"Why not? You could snag yourself a beautiful woman!"

Mario imitated a tiger growling, and winked at Huey.

Huey sighed, then picked the nearest rose he could find, which was a silvery red, and caught up to them.

He tapped on Kersti's shoulder (A/N: "Crown"?) and handed her the rose.

"Thank you," she said. She then blushed slightly, and then smiled.

"You're welcome," Huey replied shyly.

They continued through the entrance and found the forest filled with poisonous water yet again.

"WHAT THE?!" Mario exclaimed.

"That... does not look like happy fun times..." Trash said.

"Do you like my poison rivers?" a voice said. "I vorked really hard on it! Screeeee!"

They looked around, and found a floating ball of ink, with two yellow eyes arranged in an angry-looking way. It had a perpetual smile, with evenly sized sharp teeth, and a visibly red, glowing core. It was mostly purple, but it's right side was composed of multiple colors, and they were always swirling. It's arms were long and were of a brighter purple.

"Who are you?!" Huey asked.

"Oh, just vere are my manners?" the floating ball asked in a Slavic accent. "My name is Inky, and I am the king of ink! Screeeeep!"

"The king, eh? Then I assume you know why this entire game happened-"

"SHUT UP, TRASH-" Huey began.

A beeping noise played in everyone's eyes while the words "Technical difficulties, please wait..." appeared over a rainbow wall. Then everything went back to normal.

"Then can you explain why this entire series of events happened?"

"Vy, yes I can! I sent those shy guys to steal your beloved princess's color because I MUST revive my master!"

"Master, eh? And who is this 'master'?"

"He prefers that I do not say his name... for he gets very embarrassed..."

Inky then snapped his fingers, materializing a doll of Princess Peach out of thin air.

"You vant your beloved princess? Vell, you'll haff to go get her!" He then tossed the doll into the woods, landing in the windows of a giant mansion.

Mario then remembered a nightmare he had a few days before, while they were at the Seedy Stop.

The dream went a bit like this...

"Mario!" Princess Peach screamed.

"I'M-A COMING, PRINCESS!" Mario yelled.

"HELP ME!"

Peach was getting swallowed up by a huge ball of ink, who spoke in the same accent as Inky.

"The time has finally come! ARISE, MASTER!" the giant ball said.

Peach screamed, and suddenly he were atop a black tower. It was raining, with lightning striking the tower.

A black shy guy spoke, looking directly at Mario.

"...peculiar..."

Suddenly, Mario left his state of shock and remembered where he was.

"If-a you've got something to do with the nightmare I had a while back, then go away and never return!" Mario yelled.

"Now, Mario, is that any vay to speak to your future king? Now, you haff made me angry! Oh, wiggler!"

Suddenly, wiggler charged out of the poisonous water, covered with ink.

"Teach your guests some manners!"

Wiggler then charged at them, red as a strawberry, and really mad. Mario stomped the flower, then used a paint leech to take the ink out.

However, it was mostly fused to his skin, so they had to defeat him.

"Nice try, you nim-nims!" Wiggler said tauntingly, while the quartet laughed.

"WHAT KIND OF... I can't take it... what kind of insult is nim-nims?! What is that, a vegan food?!" Trash said as he slowly fell over backwards.

Wiggler looked very confused, and asked why they were laughing.

"It's just... your insults... just... what kind of insult is nim-nims?!" Huey said.

"Nim-nims?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kersti said.

Mario laughed for a short while, but then got back on track, and continued to defeat the giant caterpillar.

He was the only one fighting, for the others were busy laughing themselves to death.

As it was, Mario easily beat the caterpillar, at which Inky stared in shock.

"B-but... no one should be able to resist my ink!" he stuttered.

"Well, you're-a wrong!" Mario said.

Looking around for a way to escape, Inky flew into the sky, but Mario grabbed his body.

"I.. WON'T... LET YOU... GET AWAY!" he yelled.

"Idiot... you vill never get us!" Inky said as he detached a piece of his body, the piece Mario was hanging onto. "Besides, we've already got your princess! Oh, it vould be a SHAME if she died!"

As Mario fell back into the woods, he realized his only option was to stop Inky.

He fell on the ground, hearing a loud slap and seeing a large cloud of dust fly up.

He felt something slimy dragging him onto a sandy area, and he fainted.

Several hours later...

Mario woke up on Whitecap Beach, with a horrible pain in his neck. He found several jungle guys leaning over him, conversing in their tribal language.

Mario got up and found Huey, Kersti and Trash tied onto stakes, and with guards watching over them, Mario could not free them.

Suddenly, the chieftain came out.

He spoke in his tribal language while a translator told Mario what he was saying.

"He says, 'My people! Today, our savior has been delivered! As thanks, we shall sacrifice these lowly creatures to the gods as thanks!"

After the crowd cheered, Mario yelled.

"NO!"

The translator was translating away when he translated for Mario.

"What? The savior doesn't want them to be sacrificed?" the translator said.

"Yes-a! Even though they were kind of annoying... they're really useful!"

"And for what purpose would you have in keeping them alive?"

"We'll defeat the scourge of your kingdom!"

The chief weighed the options, then asked for their release.

"If you succeed, we shall give you this!"

The chief raised a cage with the green mega paint star in it.

"Sounds goo-"

Suddenly, a large green vine ripped the cage apart and took the star deep into the jungle.

Then it tore down the stakes the other three heroes were stuck to, releasing them.

"Well, now you have no choice but to defeat that scourge."

"We-a shall!"


	10. The Jungle Book

Chapter 10: The Jungle Book

(A/N: FINALLY SUMMER VACATION. HOLY JALAPEÑO. Finals have been pressuring me really bad, and now I'm glad to say updates will be slightly more often and interesting! Also, here we meet a new character! She's my oc, and she plays a huge role in the story. I won't say what, but she does.)

The heroes made their ways through the thick underbrush, cutting through the vines using Kersti's sharp crown as a way. For the first time in a while, they found colorless spots, which they had to restore.

They walked around, searching for the source of the poison and the vines that took the green mega paint star.

They then found a giant door, with a giant lock.

Unsure of what to do, Trash suggested they search for clues around the jungle. He said he found a book that said there was a maze with a powerful Dry Bones at the end of it, but they were progressing fairly well.

"It says he comes out when he's hungry, so we've got to be careful."

Huey looked him right in the eye.

"And just what makes you think we'll listen to you just like that?"

Trash and Huey had a sort of staring contest, and Trash broke it.

"Never mind, aluminum-head."

Huey almost screamed, but Kersti put a "hand" on his shoulder, after which he relaxed.

"We ought to split-a up," Mario said. "It might help us find the clues."

Suddenly, they heard a girl scream, and it came from somewhere nearby.

They took off to the east of the door. As they ran off to investigate, they found a little bit of colored ink. Mario bent down to check it out, and found it was harmless.

They then heard more screams, this time much louder.

"HELP ME!"

Mario pushed his way past the thick jungle vines blocking his path, and saw a pen the size of Huey wrapped up in vines, with a Creeper Piranha staring hungrily at it. The screams originated from the pen.

"Uh, hello?! Can any of you idiots help me?!"

Mario jumped up and whacked the Creeper Piranha in the lower jaw, causing it to release the pen.

"Whew... thank you..."

Mario helped her up.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, the pen realized something.

"Oh, sorry! Forgot to introduce myself!" She giggled. "I'm Penny!"

"Penny, eh...? Well, nice to meet you. I'm Huey," Huey said.

"Huey..."

Kersti introduced herself to Penny, and Mario introduced himself to her. Trash didn't talk, so Mario introduced him to her. He then asked what a dainty lady like her was doing in the middle of a humid jungle.

Penny blushed a little. "Well, for starters, I'm trying to stop Inky and his gang," she explained. "They're wreaking havoc on the Inky Kingdom!"

She materialized a short sword from ink, grabbed it, and started cutting the vines.

Mario and the others stared in silence, Trash taking small steps towards her.

Upon finishing the cuts, she sheathed the sword.

"You ready?"

They all nodded.

While going through the jungle, Trash asked her a series of questions.

"So, where you from?"

"A place called the Inky Kingdom."

"Alright. What are your hobbies?"

She looked at him. "Writing letters using my feet, gardening, building."

"Alright."

They looked each other in the eye. "Oops, looks like we're here!" Kersti said right in the nick of time. "Sorry to cut this sweet moment short."

They found what appeared to be the ruins of an old castle, which had long since crumbled away.

"Let's hope whatever you're looking for is here."

They traversed the boggy soil, and occasionally had to fight a Piranha Plant here and there. When they finally made it through, they found a giant key, which they took.

"Now we can-a get through that door!"

They returned, and upon reaching the door, they unlocked it. They walked through, unaware of what was about to go down.

Traversing the maze, they hit a dead end many times, and thus were losing time. On the way, they fought many purple Dry Bones, which were expected to be there as this was their territory.

Penny saw something at the end of a path. "I see some light!" she exclaimed.

They suddenly found themselves at a large river of purple poison, and it seemed to be mingling with black paint.

"LOOK OUT, 'CAUSE HERE COMES THE TRASH COMPACTOR!"

Trash charged out, unaware of what he fell into.

Mario and the others stared in shock as Trash climbed out of the river absolutely covered by black paint.

Mario had to engage him in battle yet again, this time to free him.

Trash pulled out his book and unleashed a spear guy who was locked up.

"WHAT THE?!"

Penny decided to float forward and jab Trash's foot with hers. This knocked him off balance, and Huey stepped in and slapped him with his handle.

The spear guys that flew out still fought alongside him. They were loyal to their savior.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and ripples on the surface of the water began to form.

Suddenly, a humongous purple Dry Bones emerged, opening its ribcage and slammed it shut, pulling Trash into its body.

Mario had to save his friend, so he engaged the monster in battle.

"I AM KUPOS DU LAVANO THE SECOND... ANCIENT KING OF LAVANO! AND YOU ARE TOAST!"

Mario jumped on his head and Penny did Foot Jab, which made him fall over. Huey used Color Splash, which made Kupos get covered with yellow paint.

Kersti used stick and got him stuck where he was.

"N-NO! I CAN'T LOSE!"

He tore trees up and threw them at them.

Huey was hit by one, and Kersti rushed to help.

Penny used Foot Jab again, causing the monster to fall over again.

After Mario began a victory dance, the water rippled again and a much larger purple Dry Bones emerged.

They hit with everything they had, but to no avail.

He pulled out a scepter and swung it, whacking Mario into the wall and poisoning him.

Mario seized his opportunity and whacked Kupos over the head with his hammer, breaking the skull and releasing the spirit trapped inside. Trash also climbed out.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have rushed in."

"Hey, it's fine, man," Huey said.

Trash looked up and saw something.

"Hey, guys! There's a mansion!"

They all looked at it, with Mario stating that they'd go explore it.

"Alright, let's-a- WHOA!"

Mario and the gang fell down a through a tarp, falling into a cavern, the light fading away slowly.

(A/N: Insert a trollish statement here. But regardless, you've been trolled by this cliffhanger. Remember to review what you thought about Penny!)


End file.
